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Savannah man sentenced to 20 years in prison, can't believe the outcome

Eric Antwan Roberts could not believe what he heard in court on Monday.

After his attorney got prosecutors to dismiss three felony-murder charges in the 2010 drug-related slaying of his best friend and after the victim’s mother made an impassioned plea for leniency, Roberts was sentenced to 20 years in prison and an additional 10 years on probation.

“I got 30, do 20?” Roberts, now 21, complained after Chatham County Superior Court Chief Judge Michael Karpf imposed sentence on an open-ended guilty plea. “I got to do that? … How long do I got?”

As deputies were taking an incredulous Roberts back to the lockup for return to the Chatham County jail, another man in the courtroom, identifying himself as the victim’s brother, loudly complained that, “$30. Cameron Simmons lost his life for $30.”

He continued his lament as he left the courthouse and entered the parking garage across the street, wondering why he had not been called to testify.

At issue was a Nov. 30, 2011, indictment charging Roberts with three counts of felony murder involving a single victim — 19-year-old Simmons — on Oct. 22, 2010, and three counts of aggravated assault against three victims in the case, as well as a charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Those charges stemmed from what Assistant District Attorney Michael Dennard said was retaliation for a drug rip-off of Roberts the day before the fatal shooting off Pennsylvania Avenue.

Roberts and Cameron went the next day “to exact revenge” and during an exchange of gunfire, Cameron was shot and killed, Dennard said.

Defense attorney Richard Darden was in court to offer an open-ended guilty plea without agreement on sentence to the three aggravated assault charges after prosecutor agreed to dismiss the murder and firearms charges.

If convicted on all counts, Roberts faced a possible sentence of life plus 65 years in prison.

In arguing for a split sentence, which would have given Roberts some custody time and probation, Darden told Karpf his client has been in jail 33 months awaiting trial and had completed a number of self-improvement programs while there.

Simmons was Roberts’ best friend and the god parent of his child, Darden said, adding that Roberts wanted to contribute to the child’s support.

Then he called Cheryl Anderson, the victim’s mother, who described the two young men as “brother — very best friends.”

“Eric is a ‘different person,’ she testified, adding, “I’m just asking that he have a second chance. … He’ll do the right thing.”

“I would submit he has some potential,” Darden told Karpf in his bid for “a break” in sentencing, including a request that he be sentenced as a first offender.

But Dennard urged Karpf to impose a 20-year sentence on each charge but allow them to be served at that same time.

“These are serious charges,” he told Karpf, adding it was “a wonder a lot of other people” were not shot in the exchange.

Karpf was not swayed by the defense presentation.

“If the case want to trial, he would be convicted of murder,” Karpf said, pointing to the evidence before him and calling Roberts “fully responsible for the death of his friend.”

He said evidence had not disclosed the amount of drugs involved but that no amount of money was worth a life, then decried the “easy availability” of weapons on the streets that lead to this type of outcome.

“It can’t be tolerated,” Karpf said. “I’m not going to let him plead as a first offender.”

Roberts repeatedly told Karpf he was not that type of person. The judge responded, “The defendant has told me he is not that type of person. Well, he is that type of person. There’s no getting around it.”